. Rise of the new West, 1819-1829. ational,not state, benefit. Nevertheless, he strongly rec-ommended a system of internal improvements, if itcould be established by means of a constitutionalamendment. Both houses sustained the presidentsveto. Acting upon Monroes intimation of the power toappropriate money, and following the line of leastresistance, the next year an act was passed makingappropriations for repairs of the Cumberland March 3, 1823, also, was signed the first of thenational acts for the improvement of harbors.^The irresistible demand for better internal com-munications and
. Rise of the new West, 1819-1829. ational,not state, benefit. Nevertheless, he strongly rec-ommended a system of internal improvements, if itcould be established by means of a constitutionalamendment. Both houses sustained the presidentsveto. Acting upon Monroes intimation of the power toappropriate money, and following the line of leastresistance, the next year an act was passed makingappropriations for repairs of the Cumberland March 3, 1823, also, was signed the first of thenational acts for the improvement of harbors.^The irresistible demand for better internal com-munications and the development of a multitude oflocal projects, chief among them a new plan for unit-ing Chesapeake Bay with the Ohio by a canal alongthe Potomac, resulted, in 1824, in the introduction ofthe general survey bill, authorizing the president tocause surveys to be made for such roads and canalsas he deemed of national importance for commercial,military, or postal purposes. The evident intention » U. S. Statutes at Large, III., HOUSE VOTE ON SURVEY BILL FEIJRUARY 10, 1834 SCALE OF MILES ? For I \Erenlii divided I I undistrlcted. h-z] Against \ Not voting OdMAr & N. y. i824] INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 233 of the bill was to prepare a programme for appro-priations for internal improvements on a nationalscale, and for subscription to the stock of companiesengaged in these enterprises. The discussion of thegeneral survey bill brought out the significance ofthe problem of transportation, and revealed the sec-tional divisions of the nation in clear light. Henry Clay made an earnest effort to commit Con-gress to the exercise of the power of construction ofinterstate highways and canals which could not beundertaken by individual states or by combinationsof states, and which, if built at all, must be by thenation. He recounted the attention given by Con-gress to the construction of public buildings andlight-houses, coast surveys, erection of sea-walls inthe Atlantic states—everyth
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